Saints 45, Cardinals 14

Clearly, the #1 seed was rusty due to the rest and the bye-week not giving them, and especially one Drew Brees, reps at playoff speed.  They gave up a 70 yard TD run immediately and then took almost 10 minutes to score.  When Tim Hightower took off, this writer was certain the Cardinals were gonna be a runaway winner.  So what happened to result in one of the NFL's hottest teams losing?

The game the Cardinals played last week was emotionally draining and they came out flat due to leaving it all on the field last week.  We also saw the emotion of the city of New Orleans.  The crowd at the game was probably the deciding factor, and that is owed to the hope this Saints team has brought to New Orleans.  The town of New Orleans is owed one by the football gods for allowing Katrina to make the Superdome unplayable for half a season.

Colts 20, Browns...er...Ravens 3

Again, the team who rested and had a bye-week was rusty and couldn't keep up with the Ravens in the first drive.  The Ravens defense was it's usual stellar self, but again this week the refs made some questionable calls that went against the Ravens.  If it weren't for those calls, I'm convinced the Ravens would have won easily, especially given how they beat down the Patriots last week.  I must say, though, that even though the Ravens had so many questionable calls against them that Colts defense came out of nowhere and bailed out the rusty Colts offense.

Since when have the Colts had a defense, especially one that could stop the run?  They haven't been able to stop the run since Lindy Infante was coach, and I'm not even sure they could do it effectively then.  I mean, they had the worst rushing offense in the league this year, how could they possibly stop the run if they can't practice against a good one?  Who's this Larry Coyer guy, what happened to Dungy's philosophy that we're all accustomed to?  They were lucky with the defense and the refs, without which the Ravens win easily.

Vikings 34, Cowboys 3

This game was eerily similar to the other NFC game this week.  It took the Vikings nearly a quarter to get going, which nearly cost them the game.  The Cowboys came in as one of the hottest teams, but their offensive line didn't have an answer to the Cowboys defense.  I cannot figure out how a Canadian was able to go around the Cowboys line time and time again to put pressure on Romo.

Speaking of Romo, boy did he play a courageous game in the face of adversity from the Vikings defense all game long.  His receivers were just terrible in not coming back to the ball or recognizing the pressure and getting open so Tony could laserpoint a pass in there.  However, he just wasn't able to overcome the position the defense continually put him in.  He quickly became desperate and had to sling it, leading to his turnovers which were no fault of his own.  His defense let him down.

Jets 17, Chargers 14

Boy howdy did that Mark Sanchez show some poise today.  Philip Rivers was similarly outstanding, but his damn kicker missed 3 field goals in a monumental choke job, most likely due to not having any playoff speed games for the last 2 weeks.  Revis was amazing, as usual, and it surprised me that LaDanian Tomlinson struggled so badly.  I guess Rex Ryan's guarantee may turn out to be true.

And now they go to face the Colts, who chickened out on an undefeated season AT HOME against the Jets in week 16.  They have the #1 defense and quite possibly the best run game in the last decade.  They were clearly dominating the Colts even before the starters were pulled, don't let the score at the time fool you.  Revis allowed fewer than 35 yard to Wayne, they had a TD on a kick return, Sanchez was near perfection, and Shon Greene couldn't be stopped.  I'm sure the Jets would have won that game regardless of Manning and the rest of the starters being pulled.

Predictions for next week

Jets will run away from the Colts as karma will come back to bite Bill Polian in the ass, hard.  Sanchez looks like a 20 year vet out there, and you cannot score on the Jets nor prevent them from running all over the place.  The Jets put up over 200 yards on the Colts, who can't stop the run, and Sanchez exploits the Colts rookie DBs.  It won't be close, Jets 27 - Colts 6.

Hurricane Katrina owes New Orleans and Drew Brees will not disappoint.  This one will be close, but high scoring.  Saints 68 - Vikings 59.

SOME ANGER, BUT NOT AS MUCH AS I THOUGHT, ON MY ALL-PRO TEAM. From Andrew Scott of Houston: "Happy New Year, first of all. Secondly, was there a little rum in your eggnog latte when you submitted your all-pro team? Vincent Jackson over Andre Johnson? That's outrageous. Johnson had 39 more catches, 400 more yards, averaged 20 more yards per game and had 310 more yards after the catch! How is that less consistent than Jackson? Might I add that Jackson had Philip Rivers at QB, I can't imagine the numbers Johnson would put up if he had a QB like Rivers. Andre Johnson does it all, is as strong as a bull and is the ultimate teammate. Love your articles, but that is a flat-out terrible decision."

If only we had a passer as good as Rivers!  Our QB only led the league in yards and had more TDs than Rivers, but he wasn't nearly as douchey and therefore not as good.

Sweet baby Moses.

Here are 5 QBs from this year and their stats.  Let's assume they're all MVP candidates and we're only looking at the stats to determine who should win.  While this is a flawed premise, when I put this table together, I was actually surprised by the data.  Some were better than I thought.

Now, Player A looks like a world beater and has the highest rating.  Player B is right there with him, and threw 4 fewer INTs while also throwing more passes.  Player D is another with a rating over 100, but he's also thrown significantly fewer passes than anyone else on this list.  Player C has the most interceptions, half the sacks of anyone else, and the second most passes.  Finally, Player E brings up the rear on rating but led the league in yards.

Looking solely at these, I would probably pick Player A or B, and maybe D over C and E.  Let's give these guys a little more context.

Player A did not play the final game of the season at all.  Players B, C, D, and E all started all 16 games.  Players C and D each threw fewer than 20 passes in their last game (Player C in each of his last two games).  Only Player E finished the entirety of the final game.

So, given that Players A and C each had one full game off yet put up such impressive numbers, maybe I choose these two over the others.  If you haven't figured out who is who, hit the jump.

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